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angry tapir writes "Students at Tokyo's University of Science have developed a new version of their muscle suit, a wearable robotic suit that assists the muscles when carrying out strenuous tasks. The original version of the suit, which has been in production for several years, provides assistance to the arms and back but the new version provides assistance to the back only. That means it is lighter and more compact than the original model."

when i was a teenager and actually had muscles, i thought i was cool in a "muscle shirt". now that i'm old and have no muscles and a beer belly, i can wear a muscle suit! with a "power" tie, of course...

"In a demonstration of that model on Wednesday a student was asked to carry 10-kilogram bags of rice. With the suit switched off he could manage up to three bags before they started to get too heavy to carry, but with the suit switched on another two bags could be loaded into his arms."

Dude looks like he weighs about 50 kilos. They don't have quite the same emphasis on body building in high school / university as you seem to in America. I always wondered about that ('why is it that in TV shows, American high school guys look like they're all 25-year-old weightlifters') until I realised that you actually do weight training as part of your curriculum.

Of course, no amount of bench pressing to make your pecs look bigger will ever make you stronger than a mecha suit.:P

Considering this 'new' suit is just an old suit with the arms removed doesn't really qualify as an advancement.I would even consider the loss of capability combined with no additional advantages a setback rather than advancement.By their logic, If I took a 3 year old computer, removed the second drive and cut the memory in half, that would be a new computer with the advantages of lower cost and weight...

Sorry, but removing the arms from a power suit just degrades it's support & enhancement capabilities

"a wearable robotic suit that assists the muscles when carrying out strenuous tasks"
So while it can help people with weak or disabled muscles regain more of their strength (if not now, then in the future), it might also be great for heavy labour like hauling things. I think a lot of companies would pay to have this as part of a regular work uniform like hard hats and boots, if only to duck the insurance claims.

"I wouldn't want to be lifting something heavy if one of those suits broke and dumped the entire weight of the load on me."

Same is true of any machine, so what's new? I wouldn't want to be under my auto if the jack holding it up broke, or lifting bags of cement with a JCB if that broke. Not sure of your point beyond "machines need to be tested and proved to be safe before being sold to people"?

Fair point, but the JCB, fork-lift, jack etc., is doing the work by proxy, i.e. you are not in intimate contact with the load in the way you are with this suit. If a JCB fails you'd have to be unlucky to be underneath the load. If this suit fails, you WILL get the load dumped on you.

When cranes break, the results are catastrophic, often not only to the operator, but also those around them. However they allow for more work to be done, more safely, by smaller crews, so they are frequently used. This could easily be similar.

Anyone who has ever done manual handling course will know that you aren't supposed to use you back to lift things. You should squat with your back straight and use the leg muscles to do the work. This machine may reduce the load on the back but the picture clearly show the guy bending over in what would normally be considered an "unsafe lifting" position.